of clearness and simplicity in the exhibition of the truth, then a little more patient effort to simplify and explain, might be crowned with success; if it were a deficiency of evidence, the defect might be supplied by the discovery of new reasons for receiving the Bible as the word of God.

But when the skillful surgeon probes a wound, and finds a hard, irritating substance firmly lodged far beneath the surface, he does not wonder that poultices and plasters, tonics and alteratives, have neither subdued the inflammation, nor relieved the pain. He may possibly heal the surface, but let him take care that he does not destroy the patient. Healing ointments are out of place here. It is better to let the wound. fester and smart, than to heal it slightly. The cause of irritation, whether ball or splinter, must be removed, if necessary by the knife.

What shall we do with an unbelief arising from enmity to all that is good, excellent, and lovely? You cannot reason it away, for it is most unreasonable. You cannot charm it away, for the things that are most charming in themselves, are most uncharming and displeasing to such a spirit. Motive, argument, entreaty, and whatever else we mean by moral suasion, are all powerless here, except as one mightier than we, may condescend to use them. Truth is indeed the knife," sharper than any two-edged sword," but we can only exhibit, we did not pro

duce, nor can we be said in any efficient sense to use it.

Faith is the easiest, and yet the most difficult exercise of the soul. In itself so simple and natural, that we act it unconsciously. When we believe at all, we generally do so without effort. Our minds are borne along into conviction by the force of truth. Instead of requiring a great exertion, we cannot help believing what we see to be true. It would be more than difficult not to believe.

The difficulty of faith lies not in the nature of faith, but in the nature of unbelief; or to speak more strictly, in the evil of the heart that lies back of unbelief, its ever active and exciting cause. The act of eating is so easy that one needs neither instruction nor assistance in it. It is an instinct. But see the sick man trying in vain to swallow a little morsel of most tempting food. What act may not become difficult, or even impossible, in the presence of a great obstruction?

Let us not then be misunderstood, when hereafter we shall exhibit faith, in its own distinct nature, apart from any hindrance of unbelief or wickedness, as having no difficulty whatever; as an act of the mind, heart, and will, not differing in kind from those which the worst as well as the best of men, are constantly, unconsciously, instinctively putting forth. We shall not have forgotten, that "except a

man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

Who but God can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? How but by a Divine power, can this great change, converting enmity into love, indifference into desire, distrust into confidence, be brought about? Surely it cannot originate in a corrupt nature, for the simple reason that the ruling power in man is depraved. Conscience is sometimes called the ruling power in man, but those who so speak are surely thinking rather of what ought to be, than of what is. Conscience did once rule in man, with a mild, yet unresisted and absolute power. But conscience has been dethroned; the Lord of conscience has been dethroned; and now a selfish, sinful heart is the ruler. Conscience can speak, condemn, threaten, and we unceasingly appeal to it, in the hope that it may be gifted with a new energy, and assert its right to govern in the name of God- but now it cannot control the heart. Fear may be excited, and may induce some outward show of obedience, but it cannot excite one truly good desire. Under such an influence, we will not follow good through love of good, nor decline evil from hatred of evil. An evil heart cannot desire good for its own sake, for such desire would be good, and all the desires and affections of man are "only evil continually." They are wanting in the first element of all goodness, a right

principle and motive, a desire to do the will and to promote the glory of God.

When all the faculties are depraved, perverted, or cbscured, nothing less than a radical and complete change will meet the difficulty; that is, a change which shall begin at the root, and extend to all the branches of evil. The word regeneration forcibly expresses it; or translating the term into purer English, a man must be "born again" made over again by the same Almighty power that made at first; he must become " a new creature"-he must receive a new heart."

66

In this change man is passive, not working, but wrought upon. He may indeed throw himself in the way of the Spirit, by seeking such a knowledge of the truth as he is capable of acquiring. He may follow the judgment of conscience so far as to pile wood upon the altar, but fire from heaven must enkindle it, and then with enmity slain, corruption at least partially consumed, he shall begin to know, love, and trust God, as he has revealed himself in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This change is a mysterious one; yet without being wise beyond what is written, we may form some correct idea of its nature, such as shall at least prevent it from being a stumbling block and a hindrance.

It is not such as to make man other than he would have been if he had never sinned. This "new crea

ture" is still man.

There is first, a work of the Spirit in the removal of obstructions to the free, natural exercise of all the faculties of his being, which have long been impeded and perverted by his corruptions. As this corruption, however, is not entirely overcome, and as a feebleness has been induced by long habits of sin, it is also necessary, that there should be a concurrent action of the Spirit, "working in him, both to will and to do God's pleasure."

But all this is done in such a way, as to seem to his present consciousness like the free, unassisted exercise of his own powers, or more strictly he is not conscious of it at all. It is only by comparing his present with his past self, that he is led to infer that a new power is working in him. He only knows the presence of the Spirit by its effects, and these effects are not distinguishable from the ordinary operations of his mind and heart, except by their greater elevation and new direction. It is, indeed, not the Spirit working for him, but in and by him. It is his own mind that perceives his own heart that feels, desires, loves, trusts, and wills. There is nothing superhuman in any of these emotions. The difficulty before was not that God required of us any thing impossible to a true and proper humanity. The superhuman, Divine influence lies back of these various emotions of the heart and will, in a work that is unseen and unfelt, except in its effects. Our Saviour says, "No